Markatron84

Marathon, Fairgames (RIP $), Destruction All-Stars, Concord and MAG.

@Fiendish-Beaver just to clarify, Arrowhead might not be a Sony/PlayStation-owned studio, but Sony does own the Helldivers IP, so absolutely they would have had a say in Helldivers 2 being ported to Xbox.

@Kaloudz

I didn't know it was that well regarded to spark a remaster

It's peak PopCap, from back before EA bought them and ruined them and PvZ.

@shoeses Fair. I played a bit of GW1 and it's... fine. GW2 was kind of naff though, yeah.

@Kaloudz No, no, no, NO!!!! The original Plants vs. Zombies. The tower defence one. Y'know, the good one.

Would the change in engine have made the open world any less bland and samey? Would it have meant that Forge and campaign co-op were included in the game at launch? Would it have changed the broken-arse multiplayer progression system?

There's your answer.

Sony has been making plays to get its fingers in more pies with regards to anime and manga for years, so this isn't surprising.

Side note: I was originally going to write "fingers in more anime and manga pies" but that felt... icky.

@Kloppo anyone who pre-orders any game needs their head checked. Nothing is guaranteed.

@Tasuki Fortnite's creepy uncle. Fantastic 🤣🤣🤣

@Kaloudz

I'm keen to see what they've learned from the mistakes of their last few releases

I'm going to hazard a guess and say: it's EA, so not much.

The one thing about Smart Delivery that was iffy was when DLC was involved. Trying to install Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (off the disc) on Series X nearly had me tearing my hair out. It would install the game fine, but the console would sometimes not clock that a lot of the heaps and heaps of DLC needed to be downloaded as their Series X versions, which resulted in them being incompatible with the base game and not show up in-game. I got it sorted eventually but it really was a ball-ache.

This studio is probably not long for this world then. Presumably new content will dry up completely while they're figuring out what the hell it is they're doing, and the remaining players won't stick around forever; not when there are so many established alternatives readily available.

Either they'll stick it out and "fix" the game and see how it goes (and even then, that doesn't guarantee anything), or we'll be getting a news story in the next few months about how they're packing it in.

@NeoRatt by the power of Greyskull, you basically have the digital equivalent of Danny's DVD collection in Hot Fuzz. That is wild.

I'm not sure this will have a big impact on Xbox. Of course, it will most definitely have some kind of impact on a small subset of users (just by going on some of the comments here) but if it was a widely used service and worth the upkeep, they wouldn't be giving it the elbow.

I played Rogue City close to launch and for me it's the epitome of a 7/10 game. Parts of it look awesome (not the character models though, oof!), the gameplay makes you "feel" like RoboCop and it nails the aesthetic and vibe of the original film. But it had a few too many rough edges to call it great. I really enjoyed it though and will definitely be playing Unfinished Business.

In other news: Water Confirmed As Wet.

I jest, but it was going to be either October or November. It always is.

@ozkrmz

As you know, mixed signals keep coming and makes us look like group of kittens watching very long ping pong match.

That is the most spot-on analogy I've ever heard.

@Coletrain I haven't had a Series X for a few years now, not since I moved to PC, but yeah your mentality/setup mirrors my own. I have the PC for the 4K extravagant AAA experience and a Steam Deck for indies/less demanding games and (allegedly) playing retro games. 👍

@Bigcoffinhunter not even one? I smell something...

Microsoft might not have utilised the Series X yet, but there have been plenty of games that have. Looking solely to Microsoft to utilise - or, let's face it, what's really meant by that is: justify the purchase of - the hardware might have seemed like a safe bet 5 years ago, but asking that of them now is pointless.

The best way to look at owning a console (or PC, or handheld, or whatever) now in my opinion is: are there games I want to play? Be that first- or third-party. AAA or indie. That's it. Don't look to Microsoft to justify your purchase with good games, because they've proven time and time again that they're as prone to a miss as they are to a hit. And even if a game's good, you can play it somewhere else anyway.

@somnambulance precisely. Every year, it's "it's been hit and miss so far, but next year it's going to blow up!" and then that's not the case. As I've said above, it's best to just play games and not get hung up on the platform holder's output.

@IronCrow86 it'll be delayed and then Bus Simulator 27, Bus Simulator 28 and Bus Simulator 29 will all show up at once.

@-taco Yep, good old Humble Choice innit. It's the reason I own High On Life, Gotham Knights, and a bunch of farming games I'll never play 🤣

@-taco you would be correct. It was included in Humble Choice at some point, so I have it on Steam.

@SeaDaVie absolutely right. The reason Naughty Dog gave for cancelling The Last of Us live-service games was that they'd have to maintain it and be locked into solely focusing on it, leaving little to no room for other projects. I don't know if that was the legitimate reason for cancelling it, but the Rare/Sea of Thieves/Everwild situation certainly lends it credence.

@Kaloudz not forgetting that Phil Spencer said in an interview fairly recently that he was pleased with the game's progress, or something to that effect. I imagine that at this point, no amount of progress other than "we're ready to ship" was going to save it from getting the chop.

@Coletrain we see more of Halley's Comet then we do of Beyond Good & Evil 2 🤣

@Kaloudz Dragged their heels is putting it lightly. Everwild should've been cancelled far sooner than it was. If you spend 2 years making something, reboot it/restart development and still don't know what you're even making, then why are you even carrying on?

I own High on Life, but I've never played it and never will. Even before the accusations made against Justin Roiland came to light, I never found his stuff funny or understood the appeal. And from the moment the first HOL gameplay was shown and that gun (with the same irritating voice Roiland does in all his stuff) didn't shut the f**k up, I knew I was out.

Uh, it's a double sided monitor, obviously. AI is great.

@Artois2 Look, I preferred FH4 to FH5, but bland?! FH5 was vibrant as hell. FH4? Now that was bland; dull green meadows, grey skies, and the flat and slightly curved majesty of the M62.

My first thought was that maybe this remaster doesn't have multiplayer so that it doesn't cannibalise the few players Halo Infinite still has. But if Halo Remasterversary also comes out on PS5, It really doesn't make sense to ship it without multiplayer and take advantage of a potential Xbox/PS5/PC cross-play player base.

Then again, this is coming from the company that shipped a Halo game without campaign co-op or Forge, and was going to ship the game a year earlier with Craig the Brute in it, so who knows what they're smoking over there.

I can't speak much on Starfield because I didn't play much of it. But from the 2 hours and 46 minutes I played... eeehhh 🤷

I'm liking the look of this. Linear games like this really fell out of favour, but I for one miss them.

It's been two years since a defining moment in the history of Xbox... and things have never been better. 👀

I'll admit getting caught up at the time in the excitement of the possibilities. Thinking about what dormant ABK franchises they could bring back (although I still maintain that Phil Spencer wearing a Hexen t-shirt never meant anything and will never mean anything, sorry) and all those back catalogue ABK games on Game Pass! etc.

But what a wet fart of an acquisition this has been for everyone involved: so far, nigh-on $70bn has bought us no dream franchises returning from the ashes, a sad trickle of back catalogue releases on Game Pass, Call of Duty being as insipid and uninspired as ever, and thousands of people losing their jobs. But hey, Xbox is more profitable and has higher engagement than ever before!

Since this acquisition was announced as being in the works, I've mostly moved away from game subscriptions and console gaming in general (I have a Switch 2 because it'll be a cold day in Hell before Nintendo releases its games on PC) and am glad of it. No moronic decisions made by one platform holder who despite having almost limitless resources couldn't come up with a cohesive business strategy to save its life, or another who's so busy trying to chase outdated industry trends that it can't fathom why endlessly throwing good money after bad isn't yielding the desired results.

Sorry, rant over.

@Kezelpaso in fairness, you can't be blamed for not currently being well-versed in D2. I haven't played since October last year and only keep up with the goings-on due to morbid curiosity. I was an avid player up until the combination of egregious nickel and dining of playable content, vaulting of content I'd paid for and piss-poor seasonal offerings became too much to bear.

Also, I hate to be a pain, but technically Shadowkeep and Beyond Light aren't included in this trial period. Turns out both campaigns were made available to all players to play for free some time ago. Now, that I didn't know.

Curse of Osiris, Warmind and Forsaken aren't included, surely? All that stuff - along with the campaign from the base game - was vaulted. You can't buy or play them anymore.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Wouldn't the money Xbox puts into designing these special edition controllers have been better used going towards keeping some people enployed?

"I lost my job through no fault of my own. But hey, at least someone might win a grotesque special edition controller based on a character that hasn't been culturally relevant in over 20 years."

Coming home with Halo Reach and convincing my wife to try it, her really liking it and then us having five games to play through in co-op.

@FraserG and I think I'll give up on getting actual news, information and reviews here. 👍

@FraserG Of course people are going to click on something claiming to inform them about the next Xbox, because they think the article is going to inform them about the next Xbox. Which this article doesn't do. It takes bugger all information and stretches it out into something that could've been summed up in a few lines. Catering to the audience and baiting them in with things you know full well they'll click on aren't the same thing.

My main issue with this is that it's detrimental to actually reporting on actual news, talking about games or reviewing games. Every nothing burger article like this takes time away from reporting on or writing about things that are actually interesting or relevant. I'm not sure how many times PX needs to be told this.

@FraserG I mean, you can disagree, but you just made my point for me. You're titling an article "Next Xbox Console: Everything We Know So Far About Microsoft's Next-Gen System", knowing full well there is basically no information to report. What available information there is can be boiled down to:

1. What Is The Name Of The Next Xbox Console?
We don't know.
2. What Has Xbox Said About A New Console So Far?
That there will be one and it'll supposedly be "the largest technical leap".
3. Are There Any Rumours About The Next Xbox Console?
Loads, but who cares? They're rumours and therefore not information.
4.Will We Get A 2025 Release Date For The Next Xbox Console?
We don't know.
5. What Kind Of Price Will The Next Xbox Console Be?
We don't know.

I get it. We've been here before. You "have to cater to what the audience wants", blah blah blah. But this is a clickbait article and you know it. Saying you'll add to it as the months and years go by? Then write the article in a few months or a few years, when you actually have information to report on.

@FraserG It's popular because the title reads "Next Xbox Console: Everything We Know So Far About Microsoft's Next-Gen System". The content isn't popular; the (sorry, but it is) click-baity title is just doing its job.

@Ricky-Spanish it's my second favourite thing after Switch firmware stability updates.

@NeutronBomb the intelligent among us will pay no mind to videos/YouTubers like that and get our information from reputable sources. Unfortunately, you're right; "news" on social media is rotting the human race. It used to be that to report on news, you had to be qualified, reputable and have some sort of integrity. Unfortunately, YouTube - or the internet as a whole, really - made it so that any mook can say anything and get a sizeable following.

Anywho, I sincerely doubt Microsoft will close Playground even if Fable does turn out to be a dud, for one reason: Forza Horizon. I don't see Microsoft putting an obstacle in the way of FH6 being made; it's too big a deal for them.

@Lup my complaint was actually what it always is: that's not the title of the game.

Bomberman: Act Zero 2.

@Ricky-Spanish are you saying we wasted our time here? Nice to be appreciated, eh @Kaloudz? 😉😂

Not surprising news, honestly. I feel like they've shown way too little of it, considering that it was supposedly coming out this year and how far back they announced it. More time in development hopefully means a better game though.

For anyone disappointed in the delay: at least you know it'll come out sooner than The Elder Scrolls VI 🤷

Edit: also, Fable fans, be thankful it's only been delayed. Wonder Woman fans reportedly haven't been so lucky, although not as unlucky as Monolith.

@Ricky-Spanish I respectfully advise to go against @Kaloudz's recommendation. Personally, I found Assassin's Creed Valhalla to be an aimless and overly bloated game that I gave up on within 10 hours. Legion isn't perfect; hell, a lot of its ideas and mechanics fall far short of their ambitions. However, it's a much tighter, more restrained game. Plus there are banners with "c*nt" written on them; what's not to like? 🤣

Both games are on Game Pass though, obviously, so you've nothing to lose by trying both, either or neither.

@Kaloudz

With the 3/4 remaster accompanying the game as a pre-order incentive?

I bloody well hope not.

@FraserG as of right now, it's not on PC Game Pass. My wife got a month of PCGP to play Avowed, so I've been checking since you published this article, because I wanted to see what it was like before picking it up to play on Steam Deck.

I've only played Rise. Got about 4 hours in before becoming overwhelmed by all the systems and mechanics. I guess it's just not a series for me.